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If your Etsy store has enjoyed a lot of success lately, you may need to start storing additional inventory, and if you're running out of space in your home, you may need to find a storage solution somewhere else. The tips you should embrace for storing your items varies depending on what you are storing. However, if your shop is full of vintage items and crafts, there are particular tips you should keep in mind.
Take a look at these tips:
1. Insist on a climate-controlled storage facility.
When identifying a spot to store your Etsy inventory, insist upon having a climate-controlled storage area. Moisture in the storage area may rust metal jewelry, encourage vintage clothing to mold or cause other issues. Conversely, if the space is too dry, paper crafts and old fabrics may start to dry out and crumble. Additionally, excessively hot or cold temperatures can put pottery, clay or similar items at risk of cracking or breaking.
For that reason, you want to avoid using a shipping container in your yard, an unsealed garage or barn, or a wet and potentially moldy basement. Instead, consider hiring a commercial storage space with temperature and humidity controls.
2. Use acid-free packaging materials.
When wrapping your items for storage, don't use newsprint or cheap paper. Instead, invest in acid-free packaging paper. Whether you are packing paintings on canvas, vintage dresses or other fabrics, if you use paper with acids in it, the acids may migrate to the stuff you are storing, making your inventory less valuable and potentially ruining it.
Also, when packing boxes, use heavy-duty plastic storage tubs with lids, acid-free cardboard boxes, or linen boxes.
3. Install shelves in the storage space.
If you hire a storage space that is just an empty room, talk with the facility operator about adding shelves to the unit. Some storage companies allow you to anchor shelves to the walls, while others may have restrictions on what you can and cannot do in the storage unit. If allowed, shelves make it easier to access your inventory. Without them, you'll end up with stacks of boxes, and when you need something from the bottom or the middle of the pile, accessing that item can be difficult. Also, shelves keep items off the floor, and if you are trying to avoid destruction from rodents, that can help provide an extra barrier from them.
4. Choose an organisation system.
The type of packaging and shelving you ultimately choose for your stored inventory varies depending on how you plan to organise your inventory. There are several options, and the right one depends on your personal objectives, the exact type of crafts and vintage items you stock and a range of other factors. If you want to set up your commercial storage space so that items are easy to find, consider using plastic storage containers with index cards taped to their outsides, listing what is in the box. If you have small jewellery and trinkets, you may want to use a sealable tool box with lots of spaces for little items.
Alternatively, if you want to make fulfilling orders faster, you may want to pack each item so that it's wrapped, boxed and ready to ship. Then, keep these packed items on shelves, organised using an alphabetical or numerical system. The only disadvantage of this approach is that if a customer orders more than one item, you may have to unpack and repack items for batch shipping.
5. Insist of accessibility.
Finally, when choosing and setting up a storage space, make sure that you can easily access it. Is it close enough to your home to easily drive or bus there? Is it relatively close to a post office for easy shipping? Is the facility open during hours when you are likely to use it? For example, if you take care of your Etsy store during the evening after your regular job, you may need a facility that is open 24/7.
For more tips on storing your Etsy inventory, contact a commercial storage facility.
Share10 August 2016
